Butterfly Garden at Danaus Eco-Center Tour
Overview
On this guided tour to the Butterfly Garden at Danaus Eco-Center, you will pass through a corridor of outdoor wildlife living in their native environment before heading to the butterfly conservatory. The Center, called Ecocentro Danaus locally, is located near La Fortuna and is a privately owned ecological reserve whose mission is to provide programs for environmental education, sustainability and ecological conservation. One of the main attractions of the Center is its Butterfly Garden, hosting a variety of butterfly species including the iconic Blue Morpho Butterfly, a Costa Rican favorite.
You will be picked up from your hotel in la Fortuna and driven to the Danaus Eco-Center. This is where you will meet your nature guide who knows a wealth of information about the flora and fauna living here. You’ll start the tour by taking a walk through the property on your way to visit the butterfly garden.
Your bilingual guide will lead you on a .5 kilometer trail that passes through ecosystems designed specifically to monitor nesting colonies of aquatic birds, crocodiles, basilisks, iguanas, frogs, snakes and more. Here you will find wildlife living free and integrated into well thought-out natural habitats. Your guide knows all of the usual hiding places of these creatures and will point out any visible wildlife along the trail.
The walk will end at the Butterfly Garden which is home to over 30 different species of butterflies. A great deal of thought went into mimicking the ideal environment for the butterflies to thrive. You’ll see the entire life cycle of a butterfly from egg to larvae to pupa to adult. Did you know that despite popular belief, not all butterflies form cocoons? Many butterflies burrow underground until they are ready to emerge!
You’ll learn this and lots of other interesting facts about these wondrous creatures on this tour. Kids especially will love spotting the different colored butterflies while wandering through the garden. Some other highlights of the Danaus Eco-Center include an amphibian and reptile area, orchid gardens and tree nursery including the ongoing Native Tree project.
Please bring comfortable walking clothing and shoes, sun screen, bug repellent, hat, rain gear, camera and binoculars if you wish. This tour includes round trip transportation, bilingual naturalist guide, entrance fee, and a beverage. One way transportation from the La Fortuna area to the Butterfly Garden can take between 15 - 45 minutes depending on the distance to your hotel. Combined time of the tour plus transportation can be up to 3 hours depending on your hotel location.
What to Bring
- Comfortable Clothing
- Walking Shoes
- Rain Gear
- Camera
- Binoculars
- Insect Repellent
Location and Availability
The Butterfly Garden at Danaus Eco-Center Tour is available from Arenal, Arenal Zone 2, and Arenal Zone 3
Tour Times
- 8:00am
- 2:00pm
Tour Type
- Nature
- Learning Family
Cancellation Policy
Recommended Ages
5 and up
Location
Latitude: N 10° 27' 50.74"
Longitude: W 84° 37' 12.53"
Reviews
- Overall 92.2% (47 Guest Ratings)
- Experience: 89.6%
- Expectations: 87.9%
- Guides: 95.1%
- Logistics: 96.5%
- Value: 90%
11/29/2022
Our guide Helen was absolutely incredible. So knowledgable and spent extra time helping us with photographs.Pura vida Helen.
08/07/2022
Expected to see a bit more animals but the guide was very knowledgeable on what we did see
06/05/2022
The tour guide was amazing and extremely knowledgeable.
05/12/2022
Wet and rainy, but we still enjoyed it.
08/14/2021
Loved this tour our guide was super knowledgeable & saw a lot of wild life.
03/06/2020
Not so many butterflies, but a large selection of birds, orchids, lizards, sloths. Very good guide! Same one we had for the children's rainforest so it was like going with a friend!
12/24/2019
Thought there would be more butterflies and more explanations in the enclosed pavilion. Our guide though was great and we saw lots of wildlife outside of the butterfly house, sloth w. baby, frogs, agouti, spectacled owl, heron
09/08/2019
This tour was amazing--so much more than a butterfly garden.
03/13/2019
Alonso was great!! He is very knowledgeable about Costa Rica plants and wildlife. I would definitely book something with him again. He even helped me see sloths!
02/14/2019
This tour was too similar to our other excursion to the hanging bridges and the night hike. The butterfly enclosure was very small and I have seen much better ones in other areas of your country. It was the least satisfying of all our tours although that was not the fault of our guide. I suggest that you advise future customers of the similarities between excursions so they can try to find alternates that provide a wider range of variety
11/12/2017
Our guide was amazing. Searched out a sloth for my daughter who wanted so badly to see one!
03/19/2017
Although our guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable, the overall tour was a little disappointing. We really didn't see very much wildlife which was our intention.
01/30/2017
I would also give our guide, "Victor Hugo" a 20 if I could. He was amazing at spotting birds and other animals and providing background and insight. He was also very funny.
01/17/2017
Very good guide.
11/10/2016
Super full of information on the animals but also on the culture and history of the area.
10/05/2016
great guide
04/13/2016
Didn't see many butterflies. Guide more than made up for that with his knowledge and ability to keep our attention throughout the entire walk.
02/23/2016
Again, the guide was great. The Butterfly garden grounds themselves were a pretty shopworn (construction going on near by)... but the wilflife we saw, and the butterflies themselves were wonderful.
05/02/2015
Amazing - guide was extremely knowledgeable about the plants, animals and butterflies - best tour of the trip!!!
03/29/2015
Great guide! Would highly recommend
03/19/2015
it was small but awesome the Maleki presentation was cool!